A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Friday ordered for charges to be framed against industrialist Naveen Jindal and 14 others accused in Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block allocation case. The charges include criminal conspiracy, cheating and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court, however, said charges would be formally framed against the accused later.

The other accused persons include former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, and former coal secretary HC Gupta, reported PTI. Five firms – Jindal Steel and Power, Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd, Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd – are also accused in the case.

This comes a year after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet against the 15 people. The chargesheet centred on a transaction in 2008 where a company owned by former directors of the Naveen Jindal Group, and then by the industrialist himself, gave an unsecured loan of Rs 2.25 crore to a nondescript trading company called ND Exim. This company then used the Rs 2.25 crore to buy shares of a company owned by Rao on extremely generous terms.